EXPLAINING THE TEA PARTY (and Rick Perry) ...

Have you ever wondered how something as serious as this ...

... could be hijacked and morphed into the functional equivalent of this?

Well, wonder no more. First, you start with the Bush Titanic ...

Then you sprinkle in some major blame shifting ...

... with true believer footsoldiers who look like this.

Then sprinkle in some major disinformation about taxes (and unemployment) when, as former Reagan adviser Bruce Bartlett made clear, the reality is quite different ...

Then you add in the continuous rants of media clowns like Rush Limbaugh, while stirring in Sarah Palin knockoffs like Michelle "Submissive" Bachmann and Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell.

In the past we might have gotten something like this ...

Instead, because there is no longer a moderating force in the GOP, frontrunning Republican presidential candidates look like "Most-Likely-to-Secede" Rick Perry ...

So, to synopsize ...

Any questions?

- Mark

THE DANGERS OF "US vs. THEM" (as explained by Yosemite Sam)

One of the problems I see with today's "Us vs. Them" political environment is how it encourages extremists to dehumanize and demonize the other side. This Bugs Bunny clip provides a humorous take on how this mindset can lead myopic extremists toward irrational beliefs and behaviors ...



I know, I know .. it's just a cartoon. But gun-toting extremists - even if it is just Yosemite Sam - don't need much for them to see the other side as unsanitized vermin who need to be avoided, or cleaned out.

The metaphors of violence, which are used so loosely in certain circles, needs to stop.

- Mark

SCARE THE BEJESUS OUT OF WHITE AMERICA ... THE GOP'S SOUTHERN STRATEGY, 2.0

Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald has an interesting article detailing how the economic insecurities caused by the market meltdown have been supercharged by racial and ethnic tensions stirred up by the far right. This isn't the first time this has happened.

For those of you not old enough to remember, Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign targeted Southern whites by getting them to think about the political and social mayhem (cultural upheaval) that would follow because of the new found rights women and people of color were going to exercise. Scaring the bejesus out of white America, especially in the south, became know as the republican's Southern strategy.

Today's GOP strategy is very similar, but new and improved. Let's call it Southern Strategy, 2.0. Here's how it works according to Greenwald ...

... Virtually every Fox News/right-wing-talk-radio controversy relies on scaring economically anxious white Americans into ignoring the prime cause of their economic insecurity -- plundering by Wall Street bankers, abetted by the government they own -- and focusing instead on some manufactured menace from powerless racial and ethnic minorities:

* Black people preventing them from voting (New Black Panthers), stealing their elections (ACORN), and treating them unequally (Shirley Sherrod and Eric Holder's Justice Department);

* Muslims who want to conquer their country and celebrate over their Christian corpses (the Triumphalist Ground Zero Mosque);

* Invading, marauding Latino armies coming to steal their property and rape their women while their Marxist allies in Government (led by a black Muslim President) disarm the white victims.

* Matt Taibbi, in lamenting the takeover of the GOP by the most riled-up of these factions -- the Tea Partiers -- recounts just some of the lowlights here.

What's not to be afraid of? Angry blacks, invading Latinos, sneaky Muslims, and an unresponsive government ... and don't forget all the horny homosexuals who want to destroy our way of life.

At the end of the day scaring white America about the coming boogeyman - when the real boogeyman is right in front of us - is an old political tactic. But the real crime this time is that it didn't have to happen this time. More specifically, what's happening today is a direct result of the Obama administration's decision to embrace and save Wall Street precisely at a time when America's rage over Wall Street's greed and incompetence was genuine, and demanded action. Glenn Greenwald reminds us ...

... That crisis presented a huge opportunity for Obama and the Democrats to bring about real change in Washington -- the central promise of his campaign -- by capitalizing on (and becoming the voice of) populist anger and using it to wrestle away control from Wall Street and other financial and corporate elites who control Washington. Had they done so, they would have been champions of populist rage rather than its prime targets. But, as John Judis argues in his excellent New Republic piece, they completely squandered that opportunity. Rather than emphatically stand up to the bankers and other oligarchical thieves, they coddled and served them, and thus became the face of the elite interests oppressing ordinary Americans rather than their foes. How can an administration represented by Tim Geithner and Larry Summers -- and which specializes in an endless stream of secret deals with corporate lobbyists and sustains itself with Wall Street funding -- possibly maintain any pretense of populist support or changing how Washington works? It can't.

By giving Wall Street what they wanted (and more) on a silver platter - while doing little to avenge the economic slap in the face to America's middle class - the Obama administration created the environment for it's base to become discontent, and for the political opposition to get riled up. We shouldn't be surprised that Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck have donned hi-tech hoods and are running around like demented characters is a South Park segment.

They were handed an opportunity, and they took it.

America wanted blood after 2008. Instead Wall Street got richer, while Main Street got poorer - and then got stuck with the tab. No reckoning. No justice. No vengeance. It's really that simple.

- Mark

GOOD READING

Here's some good reading.

First up, another Congressional Budget Office report says that President Obama's recovery program has saved or created between 1 million and 2.1 million jobs.

Next, if you ever wondered whether U.S. bankers are sociopaths, wonder no more. From nakedcapitalism.com we find that U.S. bankers rejected the suggestion from U.K. bankers to rein in executive pay and bonuses after the market crash.

Is the American middle class under assault? This piece suggests it is. This is a must read for anyone who believes that market players do the right thing.

Finally, this Frank Rich article does a good job of explaining why the Tea Party movement is stocked with delusional nut jobs who don't have a firm grasp on reality.

- Mark

LIBERALS SMARTER THAN CONSERVATIVES?

Via nakedcapitalism we get this article supplied by Science Daily. It cites a study that seeks to explain the political divisions that we see around us. According the London School of Economics study, liberals are smarter than conservatives because - from an evolutionary perspective - liberals (which includes atheists) have a firmer grasp on the world around them. The study argues that ...

More intelligent people are statistically significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history ...

What this means is that in the past we used to only cling to each other in family, tribal or small communal units. We did so because it was necessary (protection), comforting (reassuring) and the only world we could know. Over time we've been genetically programmed to put family, friends, and community first. This makes communal traditions, like marriage rituals, important because they perpetuate and enforce clan patterns. Both liberals and conservatives are genetically wired this way.

But then there's a split. And this is where the chaos begins.

As our civilizations have gotten bigger and evolved over time our "tribal" units have had to adapt to others, especially as technology has enhanced our capacity to communicate (starting with the printing press) and travel (starting with wind sails and navigation equipment). Throughout time people have either retrenched, and embraced what is familiar and comforting, or they have tried to understand novelty and other developments that require constant reassessment. The former become conservative, and pursue comforting patterns. The latter pursue activities outside of their comfort zone, like caring for "genetically unrelated strangers."

While conservatives might mock the "it takes a village" mentality, the goal of liberals is to take the tribal and communal mind-set to the next level. The whole must be cared for and made better if we are all to do better. This concept is "evolutionary novel" and liberal. Or as the study suggests ...

What this means is that as your world and your perspective opens up you tend to adapt to things you don't necessarily understand.

The study even taps into the whole fear-mongering side of conservatives. The authors start with the premise that humans "are evolutionarily designed to be paranoid, and they believe in God because they are paranoid" (as this study shows, both conservatives and liberals who consider themselves religious are driven by this premise). Then the authors suggest that God, or religion, is a defense mechanism designed to help us understand what we don't know. Over time, as science has unwrapped mysteries that once befuddled us liberals have learned to deal with a world that may not be driven by "original sin" or the constant threat of God's punishment.

For example, as we have learned more about tectonic plates and weather patterns it has become easier to abandon the notion that devastating earthquakes, or every catastrophic hurricane, are a product of "God's wrath". While this may be entirely too glib, simply put, liberals embrace the science, while conservatives struggle with it.

It really should come as no surprise then that Pat Robertson and other conservatives invoke their version of God (the Creation Museum in Kentucky is a must see) whenever they want to explain natural disasters, human folly, and other events.

Depending on your take, this study can go a long way in explaining the uni-color tone of the conservative Tea Party movement. The study suggests the group is only comfortable with people who live in a world only they know (seriously, they think they're the only ones who understand America). The study might also help us understand the fear- and hate-mongering that comes with the Republican Party's terror drenched, immigrant- and gay-bashing, approach to politics. There is an innate need for conservatives to fear "outsiders".

In all cases, both groups sense history is passing them by, and it scares the hell out of them. For them it's better to fight novelty and invoke God, rather than understand the complexity. Simply put, if they're not just emerging from the medieval castle walls, conservatives may be blinded by the light of intellectual enlightenment. Clinging to the good 'ol days helps conservatives cope with change.

This is an interesting study. I encourage you to check it out. I'll leave it at that for now.

- Mark

FORGET H1N1 ... WORRY ABOUT THE STUPID VIRUS

This clip on the Birthers is too funny ...



- Mark

RUMP REPUBLICAN(S) CAST ME OUT

Paul Krugman’s most recent op-ed makes an interesting observation. Currently the Republican Party - a.k.a. the Party of No - is bent on standing in the way of legislation that might hand President Obama any degree of success. As a result our national political scene has become more and more burlesque and may soon become “Californified.”

Having become the minority party, and tethered to an increasingly ideological and symbol-responsive base, the G.O.P. has essentially arrived at the point where it has become a “rump” party, interested in little more than making sure that if it can’t govern no else will.

For those of you who are a bit dusty in history, the rump party reference is a nod to the Rump Parliament that rose up during England’s Civil War. The background is illustrative for what it tells us about today’s political environment, and deserves a few brief words.

A Brief History Lesson: The Rump Parliament
Like the Republican and conservative radicals today who refuse to believe that anyone but themselves are capable of virtue and governing, those who rose to oppose King Charles I during the English Civil War (c. 1641-1653) didn’t trust the business of governing to those in Parliament. This was especially the case for members of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army.

Cromwell’s army eventually surrounded Parliament in 1648 and only let those who they favored back in. This left a Rump Parliament that was made up of about 20% of its actual membership. These virtuous guarders of English “liberties” went after "enemies" of the state, eventually executed Charles I, and attempted to establish a Puritan republic, with Oliver Cromwell as its leader.

Over time Cromwell, who naturally distrusted assemblies, grew weary of the Rump Parliamentarians inability to create a “godly reformation” in England. Former radicals were no longer held in good standing, or were not seen as pure enough. Cromwell would dissolve the Parliament that brought him to power in a military coup in 1653, which marked the beginning of The Protectorate (1653-1658).

The Tea Baggers as Rump Republicans
The fact that former radicals during the English Civil War were no longer seen as sufficiently loyal is instructive for our political scene today. Paul Krugman finds it especially ironic that Newt Gingrich is now seen as a “sober, reasonable elder statesman of the G.O.P.” The problem, as Krugman points out, is that Gingrich “has no authority: Republican voters ignored his call to support a relatively moderate, electable candidate in New York’s special Congressional election … Real power in the party rests, instead, with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.”

Put another way, moderation in the Republican Party has been buried by a Radical Right who is either unwilling or incapable of reaching out to middle America. Imagine what this means. The first Republican Puritans of the modern age - Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America crowd - are no longer seen as pure enough. They have been replaced by a group of ideologues who, one would assume, can bring the “godly reformation” and the market purity demanded by Conservative Independents and the dwindling but faithful 20% who continue to claim they belong to the Republican Party.

The problem, according to Krugman, is that because “these people aren’t interested in actually governing” their only recourse is to “feed the base’s frenzy instead of trying to curb or channel it.” These people want blood. This explains why the Republican Party and Conservatives in general have increasingly been captured by a tea-bagging movement that puts hate, empty slogans, and symbolism above social purpose and our nation’s political health.

How does this affect people like you and me? I'm glad you asked.

I'm Cast Out (as a Non-Patriot)
Today, purity tests and name-calling stand in where analysis and judgment once did. While I have had the honor of enduring my share of name-calling while on air, I especially enjoyed this Facebook exchange directed at me (on another FB account) I had over the weekend.

… you belong to that low life, scum sucking, bottom dwelling, dingy smelling group of nefarious would be communist Marxist who are by some twisted fate, members of that disgraceful group known as the Barney Frank, act alike, Democrats.

Interestingly, being part of a “disgraceful group” (the Democratic Party) was not enough. I was also told that I should hide myself in shame, and then was cast out of the “real American patriot” campaign (I didn’t know a drive was going on).

… you really are not American at heart or of mind. But most definitely are an accumulation from some oderferious, decayed part of the world, like the bottom of a human waste pit. Consider yourself properly vetted and cast out of membership with any real American patriot. "WE THE PEOPLE" shall overcome the likes of detrimental ilk, such as you. I will pray for you, but not very much!

And to think, this is the response I got (from a Christian, no less) because I support health care reform. At least he's praying for me (but not very hard). 

For anyone interested in historical lessons the experiences of England's Rump Parliament does not bode well for America. Ideological and spiritual purity are not what the the Framers had in mind when they fought for and shaped our Constitution. Losing an election because your team left a mess of things does not give you the right to throw in the towel on democracy, in the process giving America a case of political constipation.

Should we be worried? Paul Krugman thinks there's something afoot. If the movement driving the tea baggers today gains any real traction, I think he's on to something.

- Mark

NOTE: "Rump" normally means the hind end of an animal; Since 1649, the term "rump parliament" has been used to refer to any parliament left over from the actual legitimate parliament.

MUSINGS ON THE RIGHT

Two excellent articles on what's happened to conservatives and the right wing of America. From the left, we have this op-ed from Paul Kruman. From the right, we have this op-ed from David Brooks. Good stuff.

- Mark

SHOULD WE LAUGH, OR CRY?

Here are two posts from Dailykos that help to explain why the right wing of the Republican party should not be surprised that they are either laughed at or ostracized by mainstream America.

In this post, we see that a group of professional scientists from around the world took time out of their conference to visit America's Ignorance Museum, which is located in Kentucky (while it's officially called the Creation Museum, it's really a tribute to ignorance). The people who run this museum should be embarrassed. But they're not. Here's why.

They have a bastard political step-brother that seems to be getting stronger. It is now rearing it's ugly head in the form of racially tinged intolerance from the "birthers" and others who think and find humor in items like this.






Rather than deal with the issues, more and more people from the far right are finding comfort in petty ridicule and the willful ignorance of the facts (like the broken country that President Obama inherited).

That this mind-set is a product of stereotypes dragged from one of America's ugliest periods of racial intolerance seems to be unimportant to many in the Republican party at this time. As long as they believe they are scoring political points party leaders are willing to let the far right push this mind-set as part of a larger political strategy to discredit the Obama administration.

Like the Village Idiots of yesteryear, we could mock or laugh at these people. But we can't. They have too much political cover at this point. And that's the saddest part of all.

- Mark

TAKING ON THE IDIOT FRINGE

Jon Stewart takes on the idiot-fringe from the far right - which include Republican members of Congress - who think President Obama is not a U.S. citizen (if your computer can't support this, try this).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

In this clip Stewart plays CNN's list of evidence debunking the Birther Nonsense, which comes from statements from the Republican governor of Hawaii, Political Fact Check, the Director of the Hawaii Department of Health, and from Hawaii newspaper announcements of Barack Obama's birth in 1961.

By the way, don't we have an economy to fix, and wars to fight?

Idiots.

- Mark

RIGHTWING EXTREMISTS CRAWLING OUT OF THE WOODWORK?

Remember when Conservatives went nuts because the following on "rightwing extremism" was put into a Department of Homeland Security report?

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.

It didn't matter that the DHS report on rightwing extremism was ordered while George W. Bush was still in office. Conservatives like Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and others went nuts over the suggestion that rightwing nutcases could pose a domestic public security threat.

Well, the murders of Dr. Tiller and Stephen Tyrone Johns at the Holocaust Museum today seem to suggest that the DHS report was on to something. Some might even suggest that the rightwing crazies have become energized by the likes of FOX News and Rush Limbaugh calling for people to resist what President Obama represents in America.

Stay tuned.

- Mark

UPDATE: Speaking of rightwing extremists ... Leonel Martinez, a former columnist for the Bakersfield Californian, has an excellent post that discusses the lunacy (and ignorance) behind those who oppose Sonia Sotomayer's nomination to the Supreme Court. In his post you will get the clearest explanation of what civil rights organization La Raza stands for that I've seen. Click here, or click on the link to his blog, which I have listed under "Blogs I Read" on the left.

UPDATE II: This needs no commentary ...

MADE FOR TV PROTESTS

On Saturday's program we had several callers who desperately wanted me to accept that last week's Tea Parties were part of a mass movement drenched in spontaneity and genuine outrage when they were - as I pointed out - little more than Made for TV political theater. The primary culprit was FOX News and their Conservative cheerleaders/anchors, who know how to play on the passions of their viewers.

This David Carr piece from the NY Times tells us that the Tea Parties were the product of an on-going cable news ratings war. I'm not sure that this is what drove FOX News to push the event, since they are decidely biased and will never support President Obama, but there is a bit of truth to Carr's argument. You can check out the entire article here.

- Mark

HOW TEABAGGERS WEAKEN OUR NATION

One of the things that draws me to challenge the sincerity of our Teabagging Republicans, and their FOX News patrons, is how their Anti-Tax Jihad not only exposes our country to geo-economic blackmail but how their Teabagging Temper Tantrum fails the "Adam Smith" test.

Think about this. Our nation depends on the good will of others to fund what we do. Currently, the top six purchasers of our debt - China, Japan, Russia, "Oil Exporters", Brazil, Caribbean Banking Centers (i.e. off-shore tax havens) - hold at least $2 trillion of our securities.

Of these only Japan, and perhaps Brazil, can be considered friendly to the U.S. The others could turn on us at any time ... yes, that includes the money that comes from the tax haven Caribbean nations, which are filled with tax cheats, money launderers, and wealthy traitors seeking to escape paying their fair share here. These groups are the real Pirates of the Caribbean.


The interesting point here is that rather than having our nation's richest and most leisure class (the same group who gained the most during the Reagan/Bush Years) pay what they paid in taxes under Ronald Reagan, Republicans and their Teabagging Buddies at FOX News want our nation to continue borrowing from people and nations who aren't our friends. Yes, they want to continue exposing our nation to the threat of economic blackmail. So much for "Country First" ...

As well, the Republicans are completely clueless to the fact that their anti-tax Jihad wouldn't sit right with the founding father of capitalism, Adam Smith.

While writing The Wealth of Nations (1776) the intellectual Godather of Capitalism recommended, and even encouraged, taxing the wealthy at a higher rate than the middle class. He argued, for example, that luxury carriages should pay higher tolls than regular or commercial travelers because he believed that "the indolence and vanity of the rich" should be made to contribute to larger societal goals.

And what do our economic elites do when confronted with the prospect of helping to put our nation's economy on firm financial footing? They send their money off-shore. According to recently released reports the United States loses up to $100 billion a year in tax revenue to offshore tax havens (the cost to individual states can be seen here).

Who do you think has to make up the difference? Yes, that's right, you and me. Worse, we're forced to go to the Chinese, tax cheats, and OPEC & other oil nations to fund our debts so that we can fight wars Republicans don't want to pay for, and refuse to fight.

This, my friends, explains what the Teabaggers at FOX & Republicanlandia want to promote with their political temper tantrum.

- Mark

TEA BAG TEMPER TANTRUM

At the heart of the Tea Bag-fest held by FOX News and Republicans is their sudden concern for fiscal sanity. They now want America to believe that our nation's deregulation & debt inspired economic collapse, and the Obama administration's forced response, are driven by the same policy DNA. The Republicans inability to connect the dots from 'problem to answer' reminds me of this ...



Let me blunt. Like Miss South Carolina, republicans find themselves in the awkward position of tilling an empty field. They simply can't, ummm, such as, connect cause and effect. So they're left with making forced political caricatures that miss the mark. Seriously. Think about the following ...

1. TAXATION WITH REPRESENTATION?: The original tea party protested 'taxation without represenation' ... FOX News & Republicans are protesting taxes that haven't been raised (yet) on a group of people (who make $250,000 or more per year) AFTER candidate Obama (who was democratically elected) told the country that he was going to raise taxes on the rich.

2. RECKLESS SPENDING: One of the reasons we now owe more than $12 trillion is because "W" and the Republicans recklessly DOUBLED OUR NATIONAL DEBT ($5.5 trillion to $12 trillion) by squandering America's blood & treasure on war and tax cuts for the rich. This "Squander Our Wealth" show, for those of you who failed history, followed the Reagan-led deregulation and deficit spending binge that almost TRIPLED OUR NATIONAL DEBT from about about $950 billion to $2.7 trillion between 1981 and 1989.

3. TAKING THEIR BALL: Republicans now find themselves out of power in Washington. Unable to understand how we got to this point, and incapable of taking responsibility for their reckless deregulation and spending stupidity, republicans now find it politically convenient to take their ball and go home ... only to return under a FOX News orchestrated Tea Bag-fest. This is embarrassing.

Think about it. Republicans get thrown out for governing incompetence and now want to return and conflate President Obama's forced economic rescue with the results of their ineptitude. In real simple terms, Republicans want to get in front of an Outrage Parade that their policies made possible. The disconnect if palpable.

Even Frankenstein understood that he couldn't get in front of a pitch-fork led mob (that he inspired) ... and he had half a brain.

One of the great things about America is that there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits anyone from making a fool of themselves. This is the beauty of democracy. Miss South Carolina proved this. So have the Republicans & the FOX News led Made for TV Tea Bag Temper Tantrum.

I'll have more to say about this on Saturday.

- Mark

SOME TEA BAGGING COMMENTARY

The Rude Pundit has links and some interesting comments on this Tea Bag sign. It's too colorful for me to post here, but you can access his comments here.

- Mark

CALLING BRIAN MORAN ...

I've been meaning to post this ever since I saw it. I can't remember which rally this was at, but it's classic.


- Mark